Ouch

My mailbox is about a quarter of a mile from the house. Last night at about 8:30, I took my golf cart out to get the mail. It was windy and about 40 degrees out. As I was going around a curve, I began sliding across the seat. I guess my pants were slippery, and I remember sliding out of the side. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the pavement in severe pain, my left sock and shoe missing. I thought about lying there and waiting to be found, but I was shivering and decided not to be a pussy. I walked 100 feet or so to where the golf cart had hit a tree, and drove home.

My wife freaked out when I walked in the door, because I looked like shit. Road rash, bloody skin, etc. I opened the first aid kit, and my wife helped bandage me up. Eventually, my thigh swelled to twice its normal size and the skin was tight as a drum. I had a big goose egg on my forehead, so we headed out on the 30 minute drive to the closest ER.

I got home from the hospital at 4am. They were initially worried that I had broken a femur or that I had compartment syndrome. They also thought I might have broken ribs. My left side is a mess of road rash from my knee to my forehead. My right thigh is swollen and tight as a drum. There was talk at one point of putting me on a helicopter and flying me to the trauma center in Gainesville. I must have looked like shit and my vital signs were horrible. My BP was so high that they thought I had a severe head injury. Turns out it was the pain.

Turns out that there are no breaks and no serious injury. They do think I might have torn a hamstring, but won’t know until the swelling goes down. So it hurts to breathe, sit, stand, or even lie on my back, front, left side, or right side.

Tired and sore. On a side note, it turns out that I am very sensitive to morphine, and it hits me much harder than most other people. This resulted in an accidental overdose in the ED. My wife said it was scary because I freaked out in the ED and began taking my clothes off and then passed out. The staff was struggling to wake me up and keep me that way. Don’t remember much except my wife calling my name and begging me to stay awake.

The most messed up part was wee accidentally went to the wrong hospital at first. We got the two confused because they are only a mile apart. One is a trauma center, the other isn’t. Walked in the door, gave them my name, and was told that there was a 6 hour wait. I realized that this wasn’t the hospital I meant to go to and told them never mind. They told me that I might still get a $500 ER bill, even though the only person I talked to was the woman at the door who takes down your name and address. That is ridiculous and I will fight that. I didn’t sign shit, didn’t see a nurse or a doctor, and was there less than 10 minutes. I am not paying that any more than I would pay a restaurant that I walked out of before I even got a table.

At any rate, I am home, sore, and tired. More posting later. Maybe.